Archive for the ‘Ethan’ Category

Alexander: First baby tooth fell out last Friday. Tooth Fairy gave him $10 (gee… a RICH Tooth Fairy!). He gave the money to mama and daddy to save it for his college fund. Since he got the Star Wars Leapster cartridge he’s been more and more crazy about Star Wars… asking Richard all kinds of questions related to the movies.

Alexander's baby tooth fell out. The new one was already out.

Ethan: We (it’s more mama than daddy) finally decided to potty train Ethan during night time sleeping. To avoid washing bed sheets and blankets everyday like we did with Alexander, we had him put on underpants with a pull-ups to catch the leak. The first night, we took him to bathroom late night but he still got his underpants wet the next morning. But starting the 2nd night, he went to bathroom by himself and the underpants was pretty much dry throughout the night! It’s been like this for 1 week now so cross our fingers… Night potty training with Alexander was extremely painful, so this is a big relief for Richard and myself.

When there’s good thing, there’s the bad: Ethan has been extremely bad behaving lately, refuse to listen and/or very slow getting things done… when will this bad stage be over?… sigh!

Ethan trying to pout and laugh at the same time.

Audrey: Audrey was slow at crawling… didn’t start until 10 1/2 months old. But after she knew how to crawl, she picked up fast and now she’s crawling everywhere fast! She can now crawl up the stairs and pull herself standing up unassisted. Audrey can also cruise a little bit (1-2 steps) and wants to walk! The little sister wants to be with her brothers very much, but the boys always move her somewhere else or close the door on her (as Audrey always messes up their toys)… poor little Audrey doesn’t like it at all and here comes the tears…

I’ve been posting a lot of entries about foods recently. It’s time to do some updates on the kids:

Alexander: Alexander is now in kindergarten. He loves school. He loves books as always ever since he was little. This boy loves math too. Lots of time I found him wrote himself math problems on piece of paper and solved the problems too. Recently he’s into multiplication… hard to believe that next week he’s turning 6. Alexander never quite like veggie except for a few, but he is expanding his veggie varieties. He now takes kabocha squash, carrots, some leafy veggies like snow pea leaves, yu choy sum… Thanks for trying little boy. One thing very sweet of him is that he usually shares especially his candies…Despite his misbehavior sometimes, he’s a very sweet, loving and caring child. I know he will protect and look after his little brother and sister.

Ethan: Ethan now is 3 1/2 years old and so terrible three that’s him. He is now in preschool 3 times a week– getting more opened up at school which is good. This boy is more active than his big brother Alexander ever since little… always more into play than into books. However he shows interest in books recently and flipping books by himself. This boy has a chocolate tooth– chocolate is his first choice for candies. I remember one time when Alexander was eating M&M’s, and Ethan said “Ger-Ger (big brother in Chinese), don’t eat chocolate… it’s junky food!”( yeah… you can tell how bossy he is). Minutes later, he said to Alexander, “Ger-Ger, can I have some M&M’s ?”… lol. Unlike his brother, Ethan takes a lot more different vegetables (especially leafy ones). His favorites are kabocha squash, snow pea leaves, yam leaves– he wants big bites. While Alexander lacks of creativity, Ethan is just the opposite. He has more imagination and pretend play a lot of time. One time we heard him was screaming, and it turned out that he was screaming at himself (with a mean look, while looking at his reflection on the baby book mirror), “Hey, don’t copy me okay?”… it was funny! Ethan’s Chinese is not as good as Alexander, lots of mix use of Chinese and English in his sentences, so funny and cute…

Audrey: Audrey Bell just turned 6 months last week. Growing up surrounded by people, she is not happy when no one in sight. I think she remember previous doctor’s visits because she started crying when I laid her down in the exam room. Starting last week we have been feeding her some rice cereal along with little water in bottle. She takes cereal okay but doesn’t quite like bottle other than biting on the nipple (with no teeth of course). But I believe all babies are trainable so I’m gonna try giving her bottle everyday… wish me luck. Also, whenever Audrey sees me she gets VERY anxious/excited. I guess I am a milk production machine to her 🙂 At this point she still wakes up once in the middle of the night for feeding. Very rare occasion that she would sleep throughout the night… we can’t wait till the time when she sleeps all the way till next morning… yeah, that will be very nice!

To Alexander, Ethan and Audrey:Each one of you is unique and holds a special place deep in my heart. I love you all and want you growing to be a happy, kind and good person. A mother’s love is unconditional and you’ll understand when you become a parent. For now, sweet dreams and good night…. zzzzz…..

The weather today is HOT and we are talking May here. We live by the bay and there’s always wind and breeze, so if I say hot here that means it is REALLY hot! Of course the allergy doesn’t help at all. Alexander seems to have some level of allergy too from the observation yesterday… sigh!

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We bought a Beta fish for Alexander’s birthday months ago but it seems so lonely just by itself. So we decided yesterday to get some more fish since the kids love watching fish. When we came out of the pet store we ended up buying a starter kit 10 gallon tank too (cost justification reason) and spent most of the afternoon setting up the aquarium. Guess what: the Beta still doesn’t get to join in– we bought a couple of Guppy fish that would cause fight between them because of similar looks– but they are too pretty to pass… Can’t wait till next weekend to buy some more fish!!

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Several weeks ago I bought some hot pepper plants, a Japanese eggplant bush and a vine tomato plant for Alexander. I think it will be a fun science project for Alexander– he will get to water the tomato plants, watch it grow, pick the tomatoes and eat them too!

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Since we enrolled Ethan for swimming lessons he’s been missing several classes, but he’s improving especially during the last 2 sessions. He doesn’t cling as much and float on his tummy just fine, sometimes kicked his feet a little and started to like jumping into the water. One time he watched me blowing bubbles and wanted to do it too… so cute! Alexander on the other hand doesn’t like swimming lessons with the coach. He only wants either Richard or me teaching him swimming. Oh well, I guess being a parent includes EVERYTHING! 🙂

Ethan had to take 2 shots plus blood test this time. Of course he didn’t like it at all. What made it worse is that the nurses had to call his name twice to go into the lab (they give shots and blood test separately) so it’s twice trauma for poor little Ethan! Other than that, he is just happy and growing strong. Dr. Fan said to keep Ethan’s milk intake under 20 ounces per day.

Alexander didn’t like it when the nurse wanted to check his blood pressure. You could hear him crying/screaming from the registration area. I think kids generally don’t like to go for doctor visits, and Alexander likes it even less now after that accident happened while he was given shots (Somehow Alexander’s hand struggled free and pushed away the needle just as the nurse pulling it out, scratching his skin 3 inches long… ). Anyhow, Alexander had his blood pressure taken afterwards after we explained how it works AND a promise to buy a train for him. Dr. Fan said it’s good to play a little game to have him cover ears and one of his eyes at home, so Alexander would be a bit more cooperated during next visit for vision and hearing check.

Two days ago, things were pretty much the same as every afternoon. Ethan was up from his nap and playing happily by himself in his room. I was catching a little TV after I was done busy in the kitchen. Then I heard a door opening sound from the baby monitor. The door was opened, then closed… then it opened and closed again for a few more times. I went to Ethan’s room, standing quietly outside next to the door, watching the door handle being pulled down. This time it wasn’t closed… instead, I saw a little hand on the door and here came my little Ethan, giving me a big smile and trying to tell me of his new discovery… I smiled back, gave him a big hug and a big kiss. Little Ethan is growing up everyday, healthy and happy. I love you, Ethan. Thank you for being a part of my life. xoxoxo

Even though Ethan is only 13 months old and 2 1/2 years younger than his brother Alexander, he sure knows how to fight with brother already. During last several days Richard and I have been observing the two boys while they’re playing together. What we saw is that when Alexander wouldn’t let Ethan play with the toy(s), Ethan would pull Alexander’s hair. This happened several times. Sometimes Alexander got away but there were times that made him cry.

Richard and I were laughing because back then when Alexander wasn’t nice to his little baby brother, we told him that one of these day he would have a payback from Ethan… and here it came! Yeah, this is probably shouldn’t be funny… as a matter of fact, I can already see the trouble in the future! Sigh…

Ethan just turned one year old few days ago on August 10th. I can’t believe time flies so fast… seems like Ethan was just born not too long ago and here he is celebrating his very first birthday. Oh, yes we had a birthday party for Ethan and everyone had a good time. During cake time, Ethan was a little shocked and confused with everyone looking at him and don’t quite know what to do with the blue round thing(the cake) on the table. So he ended up sitting on Richard’s lap and had the cake fed. Ethan was not as messy as we all want him to be, only blue lips leaved by the cake frosting. Here are something about little Ethan Daniel at this age, something to make me smile from the bottom of my heart in the years to come:

Ethan now has 4 front teeths on the top and 2 at the bottom front.

First started walking around 11 months and now is walking everywhere inside the house, but doesn’t like to walk outdoor.

Just started climbing onto sofas these couple of weeks.

loves to have company, especially playing with him… cries when he sees nobody around him.

A sreamer with attitude. When he’s in a bad mood and I’m not holding him, he will sit on the floor and cry, then he will lean his body foward touching the floor. but sometimes he leans too fast and ends up bang his head on the floor and more crying… makes me laugh sometimes(I’m mean huh!!).

Constantly eating. Follows wherever the food is. Does not accept the fact that the food is finished and will throw a fit sometimes.

Never quite a nice sleeper. You can find him sleeping in all kinds of directions and positions. Also like to pull out his socks and throw them into the gap between the crib and the wall where it’s hard to reach by hands.

Does not have any favorites or habits at sleeping time, making him fuzzier sometimes when put down.

Not the type that falls asleep easily and morning nap schedule is not very good– I’m trying to make him stay awake all morning and let him have a long stretchy 3 hr afternoon nap.

Giggles when Alexander is chasing him. He also laughs so hard when his big brother doing some silly things ( like dropping magnetic alphabets from the head) in front of him.

Loves bath time and always whins when daddy/mommy takes him out of the tub.

These are what makes Ethan unique as he is. I love you my little precious. You have brought so much joy to us and we are so very blessed to have you in our family.